


In Our Line of Work

by queen_scribbles



Series: Straight Up Truth [12]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Banter, Established Relationship, F/M, Heist, Undercover as Married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-01 18:42:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17872721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: Jaaide and Theron go undercover to steal some data from a crime lord.





	In Our Line of Work

**Author's Note:**

> This is set between chapters 9 and 10 of KotFE, so established but brand new Jaaide/Theron coming right up :3 (also, shameless, self-indulgent taking any excuse to put these nerds in formal wear)

 

Jaaide stared at the slowly rotating holo that hovered a foot or so above her head, as if by sheer persistence she could make it give her a solution. _If we can’t figure out a way in, this whole thing is an exercise in futility._

“Anything?” Lana asked as she joined her, tone suggesting she knew the answer.

“ _No_.” Jaaide huffed her bangs out of her eyes in frustration. “Why are gangsters so paranoid?”

Lana chuckled sympathetically and leaned against the holotable for a closer look. “Security’s that good?”

Jaaide nodded. “Better. I’d say this place is like a fortress, but I’ve actually infiltrated fortresses that weren’t this secure. Only way in is to be invited.”

Lana glanced at the scrolling text alongside the house layout. “And I suppose security’s only increased with the party?”

“You would be right,” Jaaide confirmed, resting her chin on her hands and studying the scrawl. “Three times the security, biotuned invitations, sec-chip locks on all the doors... Normally I would be adverse to befriending a crime lord, but in this case, it might help.”

“What if we went in as staff?” Lana suggested, lips pursed.

“No good,” Jaaide shook her head. “They finalized the staff a few days ago, have biometric and picture identification for all of the non-droids, and have strict orders not to hire any more without deep background checks.”

“Damn.” Lana frowned. “What about delivery-”

“All deliveries are to cease two days before the party, with doubled security sweeps for those two days,” Jaaide interrupted. “Already thought of that. Can’t we just wait until after the party and sneak in then?”

“Or we take advantage of the party and waltz right in the front door,” Theron interjected as he joined them, his tone just barely south of smug. “Got a contact who owed me a favor. Not ‘ _sneak people in_ ’ big, but ‘ _swipe an invite_ ’ sized.” He held out one hand to display the embossed flimsiplast sheet. “Looks like I even get a plus-one.”

Jaaide raised an eyebrow. “Was that your way of asking me on a date?”

Theron grinned. “Maybe. One problem, though: Zyklend’s got something of a grudge against Imperials, since the Empire cracked down on spice and slave smuggling in the wake of Arcann’s stranglehold on resources.”

“Well, then, I’ll just have to not sound like one, won’t I?” Jaaide retorted, the words clean of her typical Kaasian lilt. She smirked at the flicker of surprise he didn’t quite manage to hide. “Oh, come on, Theron, don’t tell me you never had to fake an accent in our line of work.”

“No, I have,” he muttered. “Doesn’t make it any less weird when you do it.”

“Good weird or bad weird?” she asked, still sounding like a model Republic citizen.

“Good, I think,” Theron said, still looking off-balance. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked down at the invitation. “With that out of the way, on to the next potential snag: this data we’re after can only be downloaded from certain terminals in the house. Otherwise it’ll be complete gibberish that’ll take months to untangle.”

“Do we know which ones?” Jaaide asked, looking at the floor plan holo. “Half the rooms in this house have terminals.”

Theron shot her a narrowed-eye look as she seamlessly switched back to her normal voice mid-sentence. “Showoff. And no, we don’t. We know there’s one on the first floor and two on the second, but not which ones.”

“And we only get one shot,” Lana added, “because the data will be flagged and blocked if a download is attempted from the wrong terminal.”

“Lovely,” Jaaide sighed. “Well, then, if we’re intent on using this party for cover, we have a week to determine which terminals are authorized.” She looked up at Theron. “Any way your contact could help with that?”

He shrugged. “Getting me the invite made us even, so if I ask for more, I’ll be the one owing a favor, but it’s worth it, right?”

“Unless you think this contact will ask you to kill someone, yes, probably.” Jaaide tucked her hair behind her ear. “But it’s up to you.”

Theron rubbed the back of his neck and blew out a long, slow breath. “I’ll get in touch. You two keep planning, and hopefully we’ll get all the pieces in place so this actually works.” He squeezed Jaaide’s shoulder briefly and then headed off to use one of the base’s secure terminals.

“Well, Commander,” Lana said briskly, dragging Jaaide’s attention off the departing SIS agent and back to the holotable, “let’s get to work.”

Jaaide darted one last look toward Theron and then nodded. “Let’s.”

<><><>

The intervening week went better than Jaaide expected, as Lana was able to figure out the guard posting and scheduled rotations, and Theron’s contact got back to him with two days to spare.

Feeling far more prepared than she had in a long time--possibly ever--for this type of infiltration, Jaaide actually hummed to herself as she got dressed.

There was a knock on the door. “You ready?”

“Almost,” she replied, running her fingers through her hair. “You can come in; I could actually use your help.”

“ _Really_?” There was a chuckle in Theron’s voice that cut off into a whistle when the door slid open.

“What?” Jaaide asked innocently, not turning round.

“I thought we were trying to blend in,” he said teasingly as he crossed the room.  “That’ll be hard to do when you’re the most beautiful woman there.”

“Theron...” Jaaide rolled her eyes as she turned to tease him for the line, only to find her train of thought quickly derailed. _Oh_. “You’re, ah, you’re one to talk.” She swallowed and barely resisted the urge to reach out and brush her fingers down the front of his formal jacket. “You clean up nice.”

“Stole my line,” Theron grinned, clearly enjoying her stunned state. “What did you need help with?”

“Oh, right. I can’t get it to stay fastened.” She turned and tapped the gold neck band of her halter top. “The hooks keep coming undone. Maybe you can manage...?”

“...Sure.” Theron’s voice was noticeably rougher around the lone word, and it was Jaaide’s turn to smirk.

Her eyes fluttered closed at the soft brush of his fingers against her back as he fumbled with the small hooks. _Oh, stars. Focus, Jaaide._  “Thank you,” she murmured when he finally succeeded, finding mere centimeters between them when she turned around.

He cleared his throat. “No.. no problem. Ready?”

Jaaide examined her reflection in the mirror one more time, tugged the bottom edge of her top so it covered just a sliver more midriff, and nodded. “Ready. Shall we?”

“You don’t have to drop the accent until we get there, you know,” Theron pointed out, resting his hand in the small of her back, as they made their way to the shuttle pad.

“Consider it getting into character,” she returned. “We are still going with plan A, correct?”

“Rheton and Arienna Shaide, yes. Arms dealers. You all brushed up on your black market weaponry, _Arie_?”

“Sure am, _Rhet_ ,” Jaaide said, shooting him a bemused look. “Good job on the cover.”

Theron smirked and took the gentle ribbing in stride. “Thanks, but I can take all the credit. Lana helped. And that Mirialan slicer from Coruscant’s the one who did all the work planting the ID trail ‘case they check us out.”

“Well, hopefully the groundwork is all solid and things go smoothly so we don’t have to go to plan B,” she remarked as she ducked into the shuttle.

Theron was right behind her, joking, “Aw, but plan B’s fun,” as they strapped in.

“Maybe for you.” Jaaide watched his fingers twitch as the shuttle lifted off and wondered vaguely if it was weird for him to not be in the pilot’s seat. She reached over and slipped her hand in his, giving a gentle squeeze as she linked their fingers. “I’d much prefer everything go according to plan; mingle a little, dance and schmooze a little, steal some data, maybe make out on a balcony if there’s time.” She rubbed her thumb against the back of his hand. “I hear this moon has incredible views, would make a good backdrop.”

Theron grinned. “Sure would. Let’s get through what we’re going for first. Business before pleasure and all.”

Jaaide leaned in. “Agreed. Fortunately for us, Rhet and Arie do happen to be married. Which means things like this” --she kissed his cheek-- “Aren’t out of character.”

“That is lucky for us,” he murmured. “But like I said, business before pleasure.”

The two of them lapsed into silence for the rest of the trip. Both were too busy running over all the details and minutia of this heist and solutions for things that might go wrong.

<><><>

Getting in was the easy part. The invitation was genuine, after all, so there was nothing to raise enough suspicion for the guards to dig.The names matched the IDs of the people presenting it and that was all they cared about.

_Now the fun part,_ Jaaide thought, only half sarcastic, and loosely linked her arm through Theron’s as they strolled toward the clusters of well-dressed criminals scattered through the main room of Zyklend’s villa. Schmoozing might not be her favorite part of this work, but at least she tolerated it better than Theron did.

“Did we put anything in Rhet’s history about him being grumpy and unsociable?” she murmured, practically feeling the reluctance rolling off him in waves.

“Grumpy, no. Unsociable, yes.” He flashed her a hard edged, in-character, smile. “You’re the social butterfly, Arie, dear.”

Fantastic. She’d be doing most of the talking, then. _You owe me for this, Shan._   “Well, fine, then,” she said, putting an offended note in her voice as she slipped her arm free of his.  “Go stand in a corner for all I care. I’m going to track down a decent conversation and a drink.”

With a look of silent understanding, they went their separate ways.

<><><>

After about an hour of mingling and recon, Jaaide had to (reluctantly) hand it to Zyklend. The crime lord was even cannier than they’d anticipated.

At first glance, none of the villa’s locked rooms were anything special, even the ones with the high-clearance terminals. They all had sec-chip locks, of course. Zyklend wasn’t an idiot. But there were no visible security measures, no posted, intimidating guards in addition to the locks. What there was, however, were regular guards strolling by on supposedly casual rounds of the entire party. Benign as these loops appeared, they were timed so the rooms she and Theron needed were never unobserved for more than two minutes.

This was a problem; skilled a slicer as he was, Theron’s best time through one of these locks was two minutes and fifteen seconds. And any interruption would mean starting all over. With this... irritating development in mind, Jaaide went slipping through the crowd of financiers, arms dealers, information brokers, and a scattering of assassins. She needed to find Theron, discuss their options in light of this complication.

In keeping with his cover’s unsociable personality, she found him in an almost-empty vestibule, nursing a Johrian whiskey and keeping half an eye on the room’s other occupants.

“Rhet, darling, there you are, I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” Jaaide commented as she sidled up to him.

“Well, Arie, you found me,” Theron replied gruffly, more for the benefit of their meager audience than anything. “Any special reason?”

“Not beyond this,” she said coyly, one hand snaking around the back of his neck to pull him down into a kiss--the kind of kiss that made people roll their eyes and leave the room. Which was (mostly) the point. Jaaide broke the kiss only a second or two after they achieved privacy. “Mm, thought that would work.”

“That was just for them, huh?” He’d probably meant it to sound sarcastic, but the whisper came out far too rough for that.

“Well...” she curled her hands around the lapels of his jacket and quirked an eyebrow at him. “not just for them. If I have to save the rest of what this suit makes me want to do for when we get home, I at least need a taste.”

Theron smirked, a _You, too, huh?_ look in his eyes. “Suddenly regretting that I hid so well...”

“You’re not the only one. Why couldn’t we have made you the charmer?” she muttered, borrowing his drink. Her small sip burned more than she remembered, and she wished in passing for a cometduster.

He snorted and brushed a kiss against her temple as he reclaimed the drink.  “Because there’s only so far we can stretch the truth. So why were you really looking for me?”

Jaaide rolled her eyes and almost called him on the blatant hogwash. But they had a job, that came first. She could convince him how charming he was later. For now, she filled him in on their new problems.

“Hmph,” Theron grunted when she finished. “Surprised we didn’t account for that. Wasn’t it with the rest of the info?”

“No,” Jaaide huffed. “I spent so long poring over that I memorized it. External patrols were included, but not internal. Which means it was either separate records or added later, neither of which bodes well.”

Theron raised an eyebrow and set his drink on a nearby end table. “You think Zyklend knows there’s a leak?”

“I dunno about _knows_ ,” Jaaide shrugged. “But _suspects_? Maybe.”

“Great,” he said dryly. “So. Options.... either we go out through a less guarded room, get up or down depending on the level, and come in through the terminal room window-”

“ _Way_ too many ways for that to go wrong,” Jaaide shot him down. “I know crazy plans are your thing, but there are sensors on all the windows, and _me_ climbing in this skirt would be tricky, to put it lightly.”

“Well, then,” Theron smirked, “moving on to plan C, you get to distract a guard for twenty seconds or so, so I can slice the lock and get inside without getting caught.”

“You don’t think that will raise suspicion? It’s the oldest trick in the book.” She crossed her arms and shot him a skeptical look.

He grinned. “Just means you’ll have to get extra creative, huh? Surely you’ve done this sort of thing before, in our line of work.”

“Actually, I’m usually the one taking advantage of the distraction, not causing it,” Jaaide retorted.

“Well, then, you get to shake things up a little. Unless you wanna go back to window alarms and you climbing in an ankle length skirt.”

“Those are only the top two objections,” Jaaide clarified, settling her weight on one leg in a not-very-subtle move to exhibit the thigh high slit in said skirt.  “There’s also the exterior lights and patrols and camera drones....”

“I get the picture,” Theron said dryly. “So we’re sticking with you distracting the guards?”

She sighed and played with one of her earrings. “Given that the only other viable choice is getting ourselves hauled to the security office and incapacitating them long enough to use _their_ terminal and get away.... I guess we are. You realize with how paranoid Zyklend is, the guards likely have a trained response for anyone employing typical distraction methods?”

“Yeah.” He leaned in for another passionate kiss as a passing figure paused briefly in the doorway, one hand shooing away their potential company as the other dug into Jaaide’s hair. _This room’s taken, thanks. Move along._

Jaaide needed a second to regain her composure when they parted(Theron grinning because he could _tell_ wasn’t helping). She used to be better at this; her time in carbonite had made her rusty. _Sure. Blame it on that. Not the lingering whiskey-tinged kiss. Or your incredibly attractive boyfriend in a suit._  “And... And if part of that trained response is ‘hosting’ me in the security office while they clear things up?” she finally murmured.

Theron gave a rough chuckle(good; she wasn’t the only one collecting scattered thoughts). “Play your part, Arie, and hope to the stars our Mirialan friend did hers well.”

A rodian and a Shistavanen, both looking cagey, stepped into the room just then, so Jaaide adopted the expression of a woman who just heard something she _did not_ want to hear, shot Theron a subtle apologetic smile, and slapped him across the face before pivoting and storming from the room in a pretended huff, taking his drink with her. The apparently bruised dignity would give him an excuse for a hasty exit, and borrowing the half-drunk whiskey would give her a prop for this distraction. She didn’t slow her pace until she was halfway down the hall, sticking with the affronted wife bit long enough for Theron to head off in the opposite direction. They needed to time this perfectly, so Jaaide didn’t raise suspicion but Theron didn’t get caught.

Contrary to instinct, the terminal on the first floor was their best shot. While it wasn’t as secluded as the upstairs terminals, the door was hardly in plain view, and most of the mingling or dancing guests were preoccupied with their own dealings or enjoyments in other rooms. And since most of said guests were on the first floor, their presence alone wouldn’t raise any red flags. At least, not as quickly. A risk, yes, but one that was common in their line of work. It would pay off. She hoped. They’d been too paranoid about potential security measures to bring any kind of comms, and it had been years since they worked together, so this would be all instinct and blind faith.

Jaaide strolled down the hallway toward a room that would give a good view of the door without being obvious what she was doing. She’d barely settled in to her position when a guard walked by. She flicked an idle glance toward the door, but there was no sign of Theron. He must be getting a feel for their rotation. Smart. But if he delayed too long, she was going to finish the whiskey, lessening its effectiveness as a prop. Unless she wanted to bash the guard over the head, but that was truly a last resort. 

Just as she was starting to get edgy--a social butterfly like Arienna Shaaide wouldn’t just _people watch_ this long--she saw him. They locked eyes briefly as Theron paused by the door before he turned his full attention to his task. Jaaide started a mental countdown. _Split. Second. Timing._ The next guard would be coming the other way, so she had to leave the room, cover maybe three feet of hallway, and round a corner at just the right moment to _almost_  (but not quite) bump the guard. And then hold them up twenty seconds.

She reached her cue and pushed away from the wall, sloshing the drink over her hand in the process. Brisk but uncoordinated steps carried her toward her goal as Jaaide dug up long disused but still ingrained lessons on acting tipsy.

Her timing was perfect. Jaaide stumbled around the corner, the heel of one shoe catching the hem of her skirt in an unintentional boost to her performance just in time to narrowly avoid running into the tall, muscular woman coming the other way.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she babbled as half the remaining whiskey slopped out of the glass and over the guard’s sleeve. She put the faintest slur on her words as she continued, “I borrowed m’husband’s drink, y’see, but he likes stronger stuff’n I do, an’ I need some air.” She braced one hand against the wall as if to steady herself and gestured down the corridor with the nearly-empty tumbler. “There’za balcony this way, right?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the guard said, with the strained patience of one who had dealt with many trying individuals in the span of a few hours. “All the way at the end, short flight of stairs up.”

“ _Thank_ you,” Jaaide said, with far more emphasis on the first word than was necessary, pushing away from the wall to give an exaggerated wave as she tottered on toward the double doors.

Behind her, the guard snorted--and probably shook her head--before continuing with her patrol. Jaaide wondered how many other encounters the woman had had over the past few hours. It didn’t really matter, so long as it had inclined her toward dismissiveness rather than suspicion.

Even if she wasn’t actually tipsy, the fresh air on the balcony was a relief after so long surrounded by various perfumes, booze breath, body musks, and cigarra smokers. Jaaide took a deep breath and rocked the tumbler in a slow circle, watching the small remaining portion of whiskey tilt and level with each new angle. Theron had the tricky part, all she could do now was wait. Fortunately, she was very good at that. She looked up at the sky and had to admit the intel had been spot on--the view was spectacular. Thousands of stars sprinkled the sky like spilled glitter and several other nearby moon were visible among them; purplish-blue or red or white... It was breathtaking, and she was suddenly impatient for Theron to join her. The view would be much more enjoyable with his company. Now that they had everything sorted out and crystal-clear between them. 

Jaaide  scanned the sky, idly connecting the constellations she recognized. It started as a halfhearted way to pass the time, but she got so caught up in the game of it she almost-- _almost-_ -flinched when a familiar lanky figure joined her via climbing over the railing rather than using the door.

“Don’t do that!” she admonished with a sharp huff, scowling at him as she unclenched her free hand from its instinctive fist.

Theron chuckled. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.” Jaaide rolled her eyes. “Why were you scaling the wall? Did’t we nix plan B for a _host_ of reasons?”

“Yeah, but I hit a snag and lost my time count dealing with it. Didn’t wanna walk out the door just in time to get nabbed by a guard. Especially since you did such a great job covering my entrance.” He grinned. “Thirty whole seconds. You’ll have to be the distraction more often.”

“Heh,” she scoffed. “You already owe me for being the social one, don’t go digging it deeper. Are we green?”

“As an envious rodian,” Theron confirmed. He meaningfully adjusted his sleeves, touch lingering on the glossy cufflink through one. “Everything went fine.”

Jaaide left the drink tumbler on the rail and joined him, slipping under his arm for a hug. “So, now that we’re done working, do we get to play a little, darling?” she teased, the endearment only half to maintain their cover in case anyone was listening.

“Something like that,” Theron shrugged. He rubbed her arm and kissed her forehead. “After all, might raise eyebrows if we leave too early, sweetheart.”

“So a dance or two isn’t out of the question...”

He laughed. “We can if you want. But first, I think someone mentioned the views from here being incredible.”

Jaaide hummed a quiet laugh of agreement, and they spent several minutes enjoying  the sparkling panorama(and, as Jaaide had hoped, making out with it as a backdrop). It wasn’t until several other guests drifted out onto the balcony and ruined their privacy that they headed back inside. Jaaide rescued the tumbler from the railing to carry with them.

“I owe you a drink, by the way,” she commented, holding it up. “This one wound up decorating the sleeve of a rather disgruntled guard.”

Theron wrapped an arm around her waist and guided her toward the ballroom.  “You can buy me one for our next date.”

Jaaide left the tumbler on the drink tray of a passing server droid “Deal.”

“Oh, so you still want a next date after I went and used plan B without you?” Theron teased as they joined the flow of already-dancing couples.

“It happens in our line of work,” she shrugged, twisting slightly so his hand was more centered in the small of her back. She tipped her head back to smirk at him. “Besides, you’re the one who was hoping to use that one. I’m sure I’ll survive not having to scale a wall in this skirt. How long do you think before Lana starts to worry about us?”

“Oh, another hour or so...” he said playfully as the music shifted, tempo slowing. The two of them simultaneously moved closer in response.

“ _Theron_.” Jaaide laughed into his jacket. She didn’t want to waste an evening of having him to herself, especially dressed like _that_ , but they both knew Lana was fully aware of how long this should take.

“She was probably compiling lists of reasons to worry before we even left, knowing her,” Theron said, resting his cheek against her hair. “Like I said, though, we don’t want to leave too early. Might make people think something suspicious is going on.”

“Oh, of course, that’s our only reason,” Jaaide deadpanned, snuggling closer.

“Of course.” He didn’t seem in any hurry for this dance to end. “That’s how it is in our line of work. Definitely not me wanting to, uh, enjoy the view a little longer.”

“ _Perish_ the thought,” Jaaide smirked. Nice to know they were on the same frequency there.”View’s not too shabby from where I’m standing, either....”

Theron grinned. “I try.” His thumb rubbed her back below the edge of her top and Jaaide bit her lip as a shiver curled up her spine.

“Mm, well, it’s definitely a successful attempt,” she murmured. “I say we take our sweet time and hope Lana buys the ‘not making people suspicious’ explanation.”

“I’m willing to risk it if you are.”

<><><>

Lana didn’t buy it. But she didn’t complain, either, when Theron handed her the datastick cufflink. Not too much, anyway.

It was just as well; they didn’t stick around to hear it. The rest of the evening was theirs, after all, and you had to take the time you could in their line of work.

 


End file.
